The Way Home
by rororogers
Summary: Christy MacNeil returns to Cutter Gap to say goodbye one last time. A one-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Christy. Just taking the characters for a ride for my amusement.**

**A/N: This is kind of AU. It doesnt really go along with the book or the TV show. Just a little One-Shot.**

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><p>Christy MacNeil stood gazing at the sight before her. This had been her home once, this dilapidated cabin. She had spent many happy years with her wonderful husband Neil. Here she had given him three children. Here she had become a woman, a wife, and a mother. Now she was back here for the last time to say goodbye. Her husband of forty years was dead. Christy was no longer a young girl; she was a sixty year old woman now. Neil had just turned seventy-four when he had died in his sleep one night. Her daughter Catherine was standing next to her, she had been so young when they had left the cove, she did not remember it. "This is where I was born?" she asked her mother, her disgust evident in her voice. Christy looked over at her, "It didn't always look like this. The years have not been kind to it. Your father's grandfather would roll over in his grave if he saw the state of it now. He built it himself you know." Catherine saw the wistful look on her mother's face, it took years off of her; she could picture the nineteen year old Christy Huddleston standing there. "Tell me about it mother. Tell me about these mountains, about the people, the children, about daddy." Catherine said. Christy smiled over at her daughter, "That is why I brought you here Catherine, their story must be told."<p>

I was so young when I first came to Cutter Gap, though many girls my age were married and had children of their own; I was still very much a child. I remember how naïve I had been. I wasn't prepared for the harsh life that the people of this mountain lived. If it wasn't for Ms. Alice and the children I would have given up and gone home. I grew to love it here. These mountains became a source of strength to me. I fell in love with the children first. Even on my darkest days they would lift me up. Then Fairlight became my friend. She was the first woman to accept me. She was the best friend I ever had other than your father. Your father and I had been married a little over a year when the typhoid epidemic hit. We lost a lot of good people to it, but none hit me harder than Fairlight's death. If it hadn't been for your father I think I would have given up. His faith saw me through. It's ironic really. I was the one that brought him back to the Lord. When I first met him he was so sure that God wasn't real. As we slowly became close and became friends, my faith touched him. It reached him; he repented and gave himself to the lord.

It wasn't long after that, that your father admitted his feelings for me. I had secretly been in love with him for a while but as long as he was not of my faith, I didn't say anything. We started courted and married just a few months later. That first year, life was perfect, but then we lost Fairlight. I stopped eating, I refused to go to church, and even the children didn't help me. Neil was the only one who could reach me; it was because of his faith that you are here Catherine. If it hadn't been for him, I would be dead. I almost killed myself; I was grieving my friend so badly. Your father never gave up on me; he just kept right on treated me even after my heart had stopped. He refused to give up. He prayed like he had never prayed before. It was his prayer that brought me back. I could hear it, I knew I was still needed here, I still had a purpose here, your father needed me, and the children needed me. I couldn't give up yet. So I came back to them. I started teaching again for a while, that helped. When I learned I was pregnant with your brother that was the happiest day of my life, other than when I married your father. God had given me a second chance, he was given me the chance to bring a new life into the world. I had hoped for a little girl, I wanted to name her Fairlight, but God saw fit to give us little Duncan instead.

After that things got better. I was finally reaching the people of the cove, teaching the importance of cleanliness, there were fewer epidemics thanks to Neil's tireless efforts to teach the people better habits. Together we made a difference. But when you were only three, we had to leave the cove. The mission had been shut down a few years before. The families were slowly leaving; there wasn't any food, any money, and no jobs. They had no choice to leave. We were the last family to go. We both refused to leave as long as there was someone who needed us here. The day we packed our bags and left was heartbreaking. I had come to love these mountains. They were my home. Neither of us wanted to leave. But there was nothing to keep us here. We always said we would come back here one day. We had always meant too. But life happened. Neil was busy with his trachoma research; I was busy at home raising you children. When we finally had time, we were old. The day your father died, he had told me that he had purchased the tickets to come home. I know you think it's sad that your daddy never got to come home again, but you would be wrong. He went on ahead. He's waiting for me, along with all of our friends and family from the cove that have gone on before us. This cabin maybe the house we shared, but not the home. The home was more than just the buildings or surroundings it was the people. It's been the people I have been missing, not the place.

That night after we returned to our hotel, I sat down and started writing the story my mother Christy had told me. When I went to her room the next morning, I found her dead. She had died in her sleep with a smile on her face. She was finally home. She was with my father Dr. Neil MacNeil, Fairlight Spencer, Ms. Alice Henderson, and all the others that she had loved from Cutter Gap. She had found her way home.


End file.
